


In Disguise

by WonderstruckGuardian



Category: Merlin (TV), Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, I know it's been done before, Late Night Conversations, Magic, Relationships Open to Interpretation, but I couldn't resist, fear of spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28117446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderstruckGuardian/pseuds/WonderstruckGuardian
Summary: Katie catches a spider for Angel (because Bradley’s too afraid to do it, no matter what he says), and Colin ponders the purpose of his existence.
Kudos: 11





	In Disguise

**Author's Note:**

> I have SOOOOO many stories I should be working on, but 2020 has gotten in the way and made life very stressful for me lately. Anyway, I found this rpf (written way back in early 2016) and decided to post it.

Colin looked up from the script in his hands when shriek cut through the night, jolting him out of his thoughts (all of which were distinctly not focused on running through his lines for the next day of filming.) He was so, so done with today, but no matter how long he’d tossed and turned, mentally counted sheep and quickly decided to count dragons instead because why not, sleep had continued to evade him. His mind simply kept racing from unimportant thought to unimportant thought, worries and musings all overlapping and resulting in one very exhausted Colin Morgan. 

But never mind all of that now. Who had just screamed? He contemplated staying where he was, sitting up in bed with his back against the headboard and still in the clothes he’d worn to and from filming earlier. Then he sighed, knowing the better thing to do would be to find out who had shrieked, and if they required help. Besides, the more he thought about it, that shriek had actually sounded a lot like Angel. 

Just as Colin was sliding off the bed and stretching his sore limbs (riding horses all week, enough said) someone knocked on his door. He checked the small mirror on the wall as he passed it, noting that at least he looked somewhat presentable even he didn’t feel it. The person knocked again, harder this time. When he finally yanked it open, he found Angel standing there in sweatpants and a soft blue hoodie, one hand still raised to knock a third time. 

“Hello. Did you hear that scream as well?” Colin asked, poking his head out the door and peering up and down the hallway for any sign of a disturbance. Another door, probably Angel's, appeared to be cracked open, letting a sliver of light spill into the hall.

She smiled sheepishly, lowering her hand. “Oh, so you heard me. Wonderful.”

“That was you?”

“There’s a huge spider in my room!” She said defensively. “I know it’s late, I hope I didn’t wake you, but…Could you, um…Could you catch it for me? I swear I’ll make it up to you!”

Colin shook his head. “No, no need for that. I’ll be right there,” he said, grabbing his room key and following her down the hall. This was not the first time something with more than six legs had ended up in Angel’s room during filming. Katie could usually take care of it, since she and Angel usually had adjacent rooms. Maybe there was something special about this spider. Maybe it was truly enormous. 

Angel was still apologizing when they reached her room. “I am sorry Colin, I shouldn’t have asked you. It’s almost 11:00 at night, for goodness’ sake!”

“I was having some trouble fall asleep, actually,” he reassured her. “Really, you’ve saved me from counting thousands of dr—sheep, or something.”

“When you two are done gossiping in the hall, you’ve really got to see this thing!” Bradley’s voice drifted out from behind the mostly closed door. Colin rolled his eyes, sharing a knowing look with Angel. 

They found Katie and Bradley standing side by side in the bathroom, studying a small plastic cup that was lying upside down on the floor of the shower. A rather large dark blob darted around the edges, searching for a way out. Admittedly, it was a lot bigger than expected. 

“Oh, I already got it. No need to make Colin do it,” Bradley announced, looking up as Colin and Angel crowded into the bathroom.

Colin crossed his arms, looking between the cup and Bradley with growing amusement. “Aaannnnd that thing’s still in here because…” He trailed off expectantly. 

Bradley definite caught onto his teasing tone, though his following protest was far from it. “Well excuse me for thinking you might want to see this particular spider before we take it outside. It must be the biggest spider in all of France!” 

Colin deadpanned, eyebrows rising in disbelief. “Oh really.” 

“Bradley’s terribly afraid of spiders. He just won’t admit it because it’s not manly,” Katie interjected, shooting Colin a Cheshire cat grin. 

“I am not!” Bradley said. (His insistence was rather telling, in Colin’s opinion.)

“Oh my god, stop it. Can someone please just get that thing out of my bathroom now?” Angel pleaded. Katie rolled her eyes, pushing off the bathroom counter she and Bradley had been leaning on.

“Fine, I’ll get it,” she said. She picked up a half-sheet of paper (part of an ad for local tourist attraction) from the counter and slid it under the cup. “I mean, it’s just a spider.” And with that, she picked up it up, carefully keeping the cup covered with the paper as she breezed past them, making Bradley hold open all the doors for her as she took the ‘monstrous’ creature outside. 

When she returned a couple minutes later, Colin announced that he was going back to his room. The crisis was averted, for which they all thanked Katie as they filed out of Angel’s room along with a chorus of _goodnights_ and _see you tomorrows_. Katie didn’t have to go far, since her room was right next to Angel’s. Colin and Bradley, on the other hand, had to go halfway down the hall. Their rooms were directly across from each other. 

“How’d you get to Angel’s before me?” Colin asked as he and Bradley walked to their rooms.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bradley shrug. “Oh, you know, got caught up downstairs talking with the medic. He wanted to check in, make sure my foot was healing properly and all that.” 

_And all that is right,_ Colin silently agreed. He remembered all too well the heart-stopping moment that had occurred two days before, right in the middle of filming a scene on the grounds of Pierrefonds. Bradley had been running, as per his scene direction, and his foot had suddenly gotten caught on an uneven divot in the grass that had previously gone unnoticed. The ground had also been more than a little damp from rain that had fallen the night before. Bradley had ended up with a face full of mud and twisted ankle, but was otherwise fine. The doctors at the clinic had said he was quite lucky to not have fractured something.

“So, how is your foot then?” Colin asked, nodding at said foot. Bradley was still limping slightly. 

The blond shoved his hands into his pockets, pausing to lift his left foot and wiggle it around in the air for a moment. “Not it much pain anymore. Twinges sometimes, and still a little swollen, but everyone says I can return to filming tomorrow.”

“And you say _I’m_ the clumsy one,” Colin said.

This time, Bradley was the one rolling his eyes. “Contrary to popular belief, I actually do notice when the people I work with every day, especially one person in particular, somehow manages to trip over thin air every other day.”

“Oh, I do not!”

They stood across from each other, arms crossed and staring at each other in a silent stand-off. Then, finally, Colin cracked a smile. “Well,” he said, “at least I’m not scared of spiders.”

He could tell Bradley was barely able to contain his urge to stop his foot like a child. “I AM NOT AFRAID OF SPIDERS!”

“Now the whole building knows you’re a liar,” Colin said in a sing-song voice, unlocking his door. 

“Then I’ll tell everyone how you screamed like a little girl while we were down in the ‘haunted’ crypts last week,” Bradley shot back.

“I’ll have you know that was completely justified, prat.”

“Idiot.”

“Clotpole!” They both spoke at the same time, each rushing to say the word first, and promptly burst out laughing afterward. 

Not five seconds later though, Colin’s smile slipped. He loved these little moments when the two of them would briefly slip into character, bantering and teasing as Arthur and Merlin instead of Colin and Bradley. And then this moment would pass into history like all the other moments he loved. He didn’t want to let the precious seconds go. Not just yet. But such was life.

Especially his. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Bradley cleared his throat when Colin lapsed into silence, turning away to open the door to his own room. He glanced over his shoulder at his dark-haired friend and co-star, wondering exactly where their conversation had gone wrong. He fiddled with his key card for a few seconds longer, never sure what to say when Colin got into to one of his brooding moods. Finally, he muttered a simple, “Good night, Cols,” and disappeared into his room. 

He heard Colin say something under his breath in reply, followed by the click of his door falling shut. Bradley sighed. He’d check in with Colin in the morning, before filming started. Something must have set him off.

Despite not being called on set for the past two days, Bradley was quite tired. He got ready for bed and collapsed on top of his bed covers with a groan, falling asleep almost immediately. He really hoped everything would be back to normal by morning, because he was sick of sitting around watching everyone else do the things he wasn’t supposed to do because of his minor injury. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Within the safety of his own room, Colin leaned back against the door, releasing a shaky breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Bradley had no idea how close he’d come to breaking his ankle in multiple places—and hopefully, he never would. Well, not yet, at least. _You may not remember me now, Arthur,_ Colin thought, _but I’m still saving your royal ass, and I always will._

He held up his right hand, palm facing up. A tingling rush of energy rushed up his spine, and his blue eyes flashed bright gold. 

A sphere of white-blue light swirled into existence, hovering above his open palm. The sight of it always made him smile. This form of magic had remain unchanged in spite of the long, lonely centuries. It was the still the same blue light that had once guided a prince out of a dark cave on his desperate quest to save the life of a man he barely knew. 

The light dissipated as Colin slowly let his hand drop back to his side. He would keep his secret for a little while longer. Until Bradley, Angel, and Katie were better prepared to remember and accept the memories of their former lives. Just the thought of that day when there would be no more secrets, and no more lies, that was enough for now. 

He fell asleep thinking of Camelot, magic, and days long since passed. Days when he had been known by another name, or rather, other names. 

_Emrys, the most powerful warlock to ever walk the Earth,_   
_and_   
_Merlin, loyal servant and best of friends to King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot._


End file.
